Published with the permission of the author, Darrell Burchfield. As a lifelong competitor and coach in the sport of wrestling, I have developed my unique perspective of life and collected a few valuable lessons that seem to apply to all of us in the business-world or...

While I knew that I would welcome the time spent with my long-time friend at an open house, what came next was simply awesome – and unexpected. Upon entering this newly finished faith-based school building, young student “scholars” welcome us. This 40,00 square-foot...

Our greatest legacy is in preparing the next generation, and ensuring that there remains a next generation. This single task has been passed down from our Founders to each generation. A recent Esquire article entitled, "Are Today's Men Really Weaker Than Their Dads",...

About three hours before reaching our home, my son and I experienced the vacationer’s nightmare: the dreaded flat tire. Complicating the situation was that the flat tire occurred as I exited the highway with a towed boat trailer. Now, most of you are probably saying:...

Life has a way of weaving the past together with the present. Growing up in northern New Jersey, we routinely took Route 23, a main roadway in a bucolic, semi-rural part of the Garden State. This road would carry us from the stores with bats and baseballs to the...

With the ongoing 2016 Rio Olympic Games, our minds focus on the pursuit of athletic victory, especially for our USA athletes. Athletic work has preoccupied these Olympians for many years. Winning, the focus of their upward journey, is near, so near. And those who...

From a distance, and for some time, two sisters—Lady Liberty and Lady Justice—struggle to find their way. They are, to put it simply, lost. Really lost. Their nation, our nation—our beloved nation—is Paradise Lost, to borrow John Milton’s famous phrase. Too many...

We are at a critical inflection point as a nation, a culture, and society. Today we face many challenges, including anemic economic growth and contentious political in-fighting. All around us, we confront misunderstood issues and capacities. Like oxygen to iron,...

In the late 1970s, Dan Gable and his cadre of coaches were ahead of their time, and very mindful of this fact. The Hawkeye coaching staff understood that physical injuries don’t derail a team or an individual. Rather, it is the lack of confidence that weakens an...

As captured in part one, The Words We Use, innovation is an oscillating process between success and failure, planning and prototype, and rethinking and reimagining. Success is virtually impossible without failure. It’s okay to admit it: We all think about maximizing...

Thinking out of the box is not a given. Often this requires brainstorming rules that permit all ideas. These rules guide idea generation given the “safe-harbor” guidelines. But have you noticed that idea generation comes easier for some people? And it's not so much...

Recently, in preparation for a conference call, I closed my office door. I efficiently persuaded the door with just the right force and, with subconscious guidance, the substantial cherry wood door gently kissed the doorframe. Not an ounce of undue muscle or exertion...

How does an athlete successfully transition from sports to business? This basic question was asked of the panel comprised of three former athletes. The panel sponsored by BizTimes – a regional media company – included a retired professional baseball player, a retired...

An east coast reporter asked the question below of the three brothers a few months ago. Our answer follows. While there are many intangible debts that we each have to our parents, teachers and coaches, over this Memorial Day, the last paragraph really says it all and...

My brothers and I recently enjoyed the Big Ten and Olympic Trials Wrestling Tournaments, held in Iowa City. We particularly enjoyed visiting with old teammates and loyal fans. As we get older, we try to come in a day early to an event. This extra day provides us with...

The wrestler is 50 feet from the mat, and he knows it’s now or never. Will he win and make history, or will he lose and become a mere footnote for trivia buffs? An energizing surge of confidence permeates his primed being. His tested mind now turns over the “heavy...

While waiting to pick up my wife and son at the Milwaukee airport, a smiling middle-aged man approached my car. I put down my Snickers candy bar and, as he approached my car, I unrolled my window. Not mincing words, he got right to his purpose. Apparently his wife and...

As we entered high school, each of us (Steve, Ed, and I) passed our tests for a driver’s license. To this day, we’re not sure if our parents greeted that accomplishment with any particular joy! While we didn’t have much money, Dad took us out to look at cars. His...

Brotherhood is something we know well. I have brothers, and we fight one minute and mend each other the next. Blood is truly thicker than water. Brotherhood, like citizenship, conflicts at times yet is capable of amazing unity. While this is true, each community has...

April is National Autism Awareness Month. And while it is a month that brings attention to autism, much more needs to be understood to help children and adults on the autism spectrum. That said, we’ve come a long way in creating awareness and greater opportunities for...

Memories fade with the passage of time. What one generation experienced firsthand becomes another generation’s history. But some memories—Pearl Harbor, 9/11—remain especially powerful. They represent transformational moments in our nation’s history. Just 15 years ago...

I’ve wanted to write this post about Title IX for some time. As we all know, Title IX has reconfigured the landscape of minor sports such as collegiate wrestling. Man’s oldest sport was all but pinned for a time; but it bridged, regrouped, and is standing in...

NEW YORK CITY – We just finished the 2016 NCAA Wrestling tourney at Madison Square Garden. Now, I am leaving New York City, and our outbound plane is positioned perfectly on the tarmac. This position offers me an open view of a massive plane landing. The plane’s...

Let’s go back in time 50 years—to March 20, 1966. Today I love the coming of spring, but at the age of six, it was a day like any other for me. Pretty unremarkable. Nothing special. But it was one of those days that shapes a person and guides him forever. I don’t...

The Power of 3 We celebrate success. And it is completely natural to do so! But all too often, we focus more on success itself than the pathway to success. The journey toward a goal is every bit as important as reaching the goal itself. The process of achievement...

The Power of 3 Look around you and listen closely. Every day, it seems we will see and hear binary words such as short and long, big and small, success or failure. Success and failure are perhaps the most loaded words of all. These words, these constructs, are simply...

By Colonel (Ret.) Steve Banach In contrast with contemporary Europe, eighteenth-century America was a magnificent land of equality and opportunity.No titled nobility dominated society from on high and no destitute underclass threatened it from below. Washington,...

The Power of 3 From time to time, we meet a number or percentage that, upon deeper inspection, tells an important story, or helps us understand the story behind the story. Sixty-two is one such number/percentage. Yes, 62! The Big 6-2 seems about as mundane as can be,...

The Power of 3 We’ve all heard the phrase zone coverage sometime during our lives. It’s a sports term—common in football and basketball. Zone coverage means that each team’s objective is to provide enough space so that the opponent is always in front of the defender....

The legendary program, Outward Bound, is rooted in the experiences of merchant seamen in the North Atlantic around World War II. Their resilience under life-threatening conditions sometimes meant the difference between life and death. When German U-boats sank vessels,...

The Power of 3 Recently, I enjoyed a walk over lunch—on what was a very windy day! During this brisk walk into the wind, I realized that this constant headwind must be a metaphor for an entrepreneur’s daily life. Turn to the west and the gale winds of regulation are...

The Power of 3 Valentine’s Day reminds us that relationships matter. This is true—personally and professionally. Each of us is entering our fourth decade of marriage. We have had great role models in our parents and in-laws, each of whom had—or have—marriages lasting...

The Power of 3 This year marks the 40th anniversary of a major milestone in the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling fraternity. In 1976, Dan Gable became the University of Iowa’s head wrestling coach. Bump Elliot and Gary Kurdelmeir—Iowa’s athletic director and assistant athletic...

In the land of elite US Olympic wrestlers, there was—and is—the Champ of Champions: David Schultz. This year marks the 20th remembrance of David’s untimely death, as captured in the movie Foxcatcher. David and I were teammates on the 1984 Olympic Team. I observed...

America’s biggest event, Super Bowl 50, is scheduled for February 7 in sunny California. Professional football’s premier event is, in a word, exciting! Sport’s ultimate objective is to showcase the world’s best athletes. We love to see talent in motion, and on...

"Port Jervis shaped us and Iowa City finished us.” We often say that, for Iowa has played a major role in our lives and personal development. To this day, the Hawkeye State remains unforgettable to the three of us. We wrestled for and graduated from the University...

On February 6, 2016, President Ronald Reagan would be 105, and my twin brother, Ed, and I will be 56. We share the president’s birthday in common with him, and we actually met during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. My memories of the Great Communicator are quite...

The Power of 3, Revisited... As you drill into our site, www.BanachPowerof3.com, you gain an understanding of the importance of the Power of 3, of which we share the following three perspectives: Our faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit The three brothers’...

What do you remember? Think back to your youth. What do you remember? The freedom that you had to play and learn without minute-by-minute supervision, Pick-up games after most school days with your friends down your street, or When actions and behaviors were purely...